Nanomaterials in food, which way forward?

Abstract Nanotechnology has emerged as one of the most innovative technologies occurred in decades and has the potential to improve food quality and safety. At present, there are also a few studies demonstrating that nanomaterials (NMs) are not inherently benign. This chapter highlights some current applications of NMs in food, food additives and food contact materials and reviews analytical approaches suitable to address food safety-related issues of nanotechnology. As starting point, discussion on the current regulatory situation of nanotechnology in relation to food is addressed, followed by a detailed description of sample preparation aspects, separation methods (e.g. field-flow fractionation, hydrodynamic chromatography), and detection/characterization techniques (e.g. electron microscopy, light scattering, mass spectrometry). First, applications for the analysis of NMs in food matrices are outlined. This chapter highlights the changes that have occurred and are occurring within the analysis of residues of NMs.